East Butler Baseball Association banned from Speed-O-Field complex
BUTLER, Pa. (KDKA) — It's not all peanuts and cracker jacks in Butler County, a little league baseball team has been banned from using the complex.
The East Butler Baseball Association (EBBA) told KDKA-TV that the borough council locked it out this week, just weeks before its first game of the season.
League coach Drew Mooney said the EBBA has been using the Speed-O-Field complex for more than 70 years.
"There's been a gentleman's agreement where the borough owns the land and they work with the Baseball Association, but the EBBA had run the facility and has done the improvements and put the lights in, the maintenance, etc," Mooney said.
He said on Monday that the association presented the borough with a new contract. Mooney said instead of coming to an agreement, the EBBA was told it was banned from using the fields and would be arrested if caught trespassing.
According to a letter, provided by the league from the borough solicitor, it says the league will remain banned through the rest of the year until a new agreement is signed.
Mooney said the disagreement between the league and borough all comes down to funding and is only hurting the kids.
"How can you let this get to locking kids out of a ballpark, as adults, as leaders of an organization in a borough? How can you not come together to find a solution to this?" Mooney said. "We're here for the kids. We're here to promote baseball."
KDKA-TV reached out to the borough and its solicitor to learn more about the reason behind the ban and what it could take for the league to return. We have not heard back yet.